


we found love in a hopeless place (...that place being a twenty-four hour grocery store)

by jubileechase



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 24 Hour Grocery Store, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Fluff, M/M, POV Alternating, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, and steve is still tall, but bucky still has the arm, but third person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 13:01:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5744803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jubileechase/pseuds/jubileechase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky has the night shift at a 24 hour grocery store. Steve just needed to get a few items and get out of there. Neither of them were planning on meeting anybody, or destroying the cereal aisle, for that matter. But what can they say? It's two am. Things happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we found love in a hopeless place (...that place being a twenty-four hour grocery store)

            Bucky was totally content with his job. Sure, working at a twenty-four-hour grocery store had its setbacks, like having to occasionally work late night shifts, but that didn’t really bother him. The store was quiet at night, so even when he _did_ have to work until the sun began to rise, he wasn’t too exhausted. He glanced at the watch on his right wrist. 2 AM. Two more hours and then he could get some sleep. Bucky mentally went over a list of things to occupy his time, absentmindedly running his hand through his hair, strands falling loose from his ponytail. He ended up deciding on shelving items, something that was hard to do when the store was densely populated with customers blocking every shelf. A couple of minutes later, he had piled a shopping cart with boxes of products and was making his way down the various aisles, placing them on the shelves. There was the occasional weary-looking shopper. Bucky smiled at them. He could only imagine how long of a night it was for them if they were in a grocery store at 2 AM. And he knew exactly how that felt.

            Steve briskly walked through the automatic doors of the grocery store and grabbed a cart. He had no idea why he grabbed the cart, considering he was only getting milk, orange juice, and bread, but it felt like a necessary movement. Maybe because being awake past a certain time ruins everyone’s judgement, including his. Well, if you asked his friends, they would probably say that the time of day didn’t matter and that he would make bad decisions no matter what. Luckily for him, they always ended well. This time, it wasn’t _his_ bad decision that had sent him here, however. He didn’t care. He just needed to get these few basic items and get out of there.

            Bucky yawned as he continued to place products where they should be. Only a minute had passed. The door had opened and closed a couple of times, whether from people coming or going, he wasn’t sure. There was another cashier working the late night shift, so it’s not exactly like he was wasting time. He hummed softly as he made his way through the aisles. Maybe the remainder of his shift would go quickly. There actually were a few customers, so it wasn’t like he would just be sitting there once he had finished everything else he had to do. Hopefully. And even if they all left and nobody else came in, he had made sure to bring a book this time. He just hoped he would be able to stay awake.

            Steve raced down aisle after aisle, trying to remember in his sleep-deprived state where the dairy would be. He already had everything else. All he needed now was to get home and get some sleep. He rounded the corner into the breakfast foods aisle, and speeded down it, almost not noticing the lady in the middle of the aisle. Suddenly alert, Steve swerved the cart, shouting “Sorry!” over his shoulder as he tried to get back onto course. Except that was a little difficult to do when you’re going really fast and not actually looking where you’re going, as it turned out. By the time he looked back ahead, he was dangerously close to a tower of Pop Tart boxes. And by the time he could think about swerving that too, the cart has already collided with the tower. Boxes went toppling everywhere. The cart slipped and fell onto its side, wheels still spinning from the sheer speed at which it had been travelling in the first place. Steve slipped slightly but managed to break his fall by grabbing onto a shelf – and knocking a whole heap of cereal boxes from that, too. He cursed under his breath, hurriedly picking up cereal boxes and trying to shove them back onto the shelf in a decent way. The Pop Tart tower was another story. The boxes had been scattered all around, and it wasn’t exactly like Steve knew how to properly arrange them. He began a desperate attempt to reassemble the tower, but everything just seemed to keep falling apart.

            Bucky heard the colossal crash from a few aisles away and looked up towards the source of the noise. He saw the front of an upturned shopping cart peeking out from one of the aisles, and a few boxes of Pop Tarts slide across the ground, and he knew immediately what had happened. Leaving his own cart in the middle of the aisle, he sighed heavily and began to jog over to the sight of the disaster.

            Steve kept trying to stack the boxes up, but the tower was clearly unstable. Breathing heavily, he walked backwards slightly before turning around to get some of the other boxes that had travelled a bit further than others. Except he clearly hadn’t learned his lesson about not looking where he was going, because he backwards-walked directly into his shopping cart. He slipped again, and stumbled forward – right back into the poorly-constructed Pop Tart tower. The boxes cascaded down around him, Steve himself now lying quite uncomfortably on the cold floor of the grocery store. He had landed on his back, and his head was supported by the loaf of bread that had fallen from his cart. What a beautiful coincidence that it had lasted there. Probably the only bit of good luck he had left. At least he knew he wouldn’t have any serious injuries, aside from a hell of a lot of bruising. Then again, it was kind of hard to tell with his heart pounding so loudly he could hear it. Or were those footsteps? He slowly opened his eyes, letting the world come into focus.

            Bucky slowed to a stop as he stood in front of what used to be a tower of Pop Tart boxes. Now, however, the boxes were everywhere, and in the middle of them, a man with blond hair sprawled on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Except he wasn’t; the man’s head moved slightly as a soft groan escaped his lips. The man’s eyes opened slowly, revealing one of the loveliest shades of blue Bucky had ever seen. “Are you alright?” he asked, holding out his hand towards the man.

            Steve stared up at the man standing in front of him. He had a look of concern on his face, but also one of slight awe. Maybe because Steve had somehow been clumsy enough to avoid a person and then crash directly into something so directly in his line of vision, only to then fall over again and create an even bigger mess. Thank god he hadn’t been there to see the events unfold. Steve took the man’s hand. “I’m alright, thanks.” he replied, standing up. The man was one of the employees – his name tag read James. His brown hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, his eyes the colour of water on a clear day. Steve couldn’t take his eyes off of him. It wasn’t like he wanted to, anyway. He was just worried that the man would notice. Neither of them spoke for a few seconds, and Steve became acutely aware of every breath he took, before realising that they were still just standing there, holding hands. “I, uh… I’m sorry about… this.”

            Bucky smiled slightly. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he tried to think of something to say. It wasn’t exactly like he could pretend nothing had happened just to make the poor guy feel better. He couldn’t have taken more than a second on choosing his next words but it felt like a lifetime, standing there, looking at and holding hands with this man. Maybe it was just because it was 2 AM. Or maybe… “You know what? It’s fine. I can fix that up. Are you hurt?” Smooth. Well, it would have been fine, if he wasn’t staring at the guy like he was a piece of art. He went to push a loose strand of hair off his face with his metal left hand, and then realised once again that his real hand was still intertwined with the hand of the other man.

            Steve was caught slightly off guard. “No, I’m… you seriously don’t care?”

            Bucky exhaled a small laugh. “Officially, I’m meant to, but I’m pretty sure your safety is more important than a sad attempt to make these Pop Tart boxes look cool.”

            Steve couldn’t help but half-smile. Something about the entire situation was kind of hilarious. And kind of a little perfect. Probably because of how late it was. Everything always seems like something out of a movie when it happens at 2 AM. “If you want, I can help with it. I mean, it was my fault, so I probably…” Steve’s voice trailed off as he let go of James’ hand and started trying to pick up some of the boxes.

            Bucky leaned down and proceeded to pick up the spilled boxes of Pop Tarts. They mostly seemed undamaged, but he could hardly focus on something like whether or not a cardboard box was ever-so-slightly indented. “So, what’s your name?” Bucky asked, trying to sound calm.

            Steve looked up at him. “Steve. What about you?” he responded, even though he had already seen the nametag. It just felt a little weird to call him by his name without even being told his name.

            Bucky glanced over at Steve. It wasn’t exactly an unordinary name, but for some reason, it just sounded like it meant something special. “I’m Bucky.” he smiled. Steve looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “It’s a nickname. James Buchanan Barnes. The Bucky thing has sort of just stuck with me since I was a kid.”

            Steve looked at Bucky over the pile of Pop Tart boxes in his arms. “I like it.” He stood there for a second, realising that both he and Bucky had their arms filled with these goddamn toaster pastries. “So, uhh… how exactly are we meant to assemble this thing?” he asked.

            Bucky suddenly noticed how difficult this would be considering they were both holding half the tower between them. He placed his pile neatly on the ground. He reached over to take Steve’s pile as well, their fingers brushing slightly as he did so, before placing it besides his. “I can do that. It’s kind of my job, actually. You should probably get what you came for and get some sleep. It’s…” Bucky glanced at his watch. “It’s quarter past two.” As he said this, he rubbed his eyes. Partially from how tired he was, but also because of how rude he probably just sounded. Goddamn it. Steve had been nothing but thoughtful, and he wished he could stay and just get to know him, but it had probably sounded like he was trying to get rid of him.

            Steve was almost a little bit surprised. The destruction of the Pop Tart display had been entirely his fault, and here Bucky was, offering to fix the entire thing just so somebody he barely knew would be able to get a good night’s sleep. “Right, yeah. Thanks. I’m sorry about the, um…” He gestured towards the mess surrounding them. He felt like he should stay. To help, yeah, but he didn’t want to leave Bucky. He wasn’t really sure why, but being with him just felt right.

            Bucky looked down, though he couldn’t stop his eyes from going back up to Steve’s face. “Like I said, it’s fine. Well, have a good night.” Bucky said. He couldn’t help but smile as he looked at Steve. The other man smiled back, before picking up the shopping cart and placing his items back into it.

            Steve felt himself grinning as he looked at Bucky for what would probably be the last time as he was about to leave. He hardly knew Bucky, yet he felt a pang of sadness at the thought of not seeing him again. He wanted to get to know him. He was almost tempted to ask Bucky for his phone number, but the words couldn’t seem to come out. “Thanks, you too.” He finally said before turning the cart around to go over to the dairy products, resisting the urge to look back over his shoulder.

            Bucky watched Steve walk away for a few seconds, before his heart got the better of his head. “Wait, Steve!” he shouted. Steve, thankfully, was still relatively close, and turned around. Maybe Bucky was imagining it, but there was something hopeful in the look on Steve’s face. Bucky nervously rubbed the back of his neck, his heart pounding as he tried to work out what to say next. He just wanted to spend more time with him. After a few seconds that seemed to drag on for years, he finally managed to stutter something out. “I was, uhh… I was wondering, I mean, you don’t have to, but I’m not working tomorrow if you want to go get some, um, coffee, or breakfast or… something.”

            Steve felt his heart jumping in his chest at the offer. “Yeah, definitely.” He nervously smiled as he walked back over to Bucky. “I know this really great café that does all day breakfast if you want to go there.”

            Bucky felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his chest, yet the butterflies in his stomach had simply changed their target from fear to elation. “That would be great. Here, I’ll give you my number and then you can just text me where it is. Remembering addresses isn’t exactly my thing.” He said, pulling a pen and small notepad from his pocket and writing down his number on it before giving it to Steve.

            Steve tucked the piece of paper into his pocket. “Alright. I’ll see you there tomorrow, around ten, maybe?”

            Bucky nodded. “Sounds like a plan! See you then.” He said, internally screaming. Steve smiled before continuing on with his shopping, and Bucky began construction on the Pop Tart display, but all his thoughts were on Steve. He could barely stop smiling as he continued going about his job, to the point where one regular customer actually looked at the time and back at Bucky before asking if he was okay. He just smiled and responded with “Never been better.”

**Author's Note:**

> alright i cannot even remember where the idea for this came from. i just remember that one minute i was watching chopped and one of the ingredients was pop tarts, and next thing i knew, i was writing this. and i'm glad. because this idea was incredible.  
> also i apologise for the shitty title lmao


End file.
